If spelling contest goes global, Indians will be in with good chance

Even as the Indian world chess champion was drawn out into a football-like cliffhanger finish in Moscow, brainy Indians should cheer up at the prospect of another arena in which they can soon shine internationally -- spelling. Pintsized Indian-origin contestants at spelling bees in the US already have the same formidable reputation as Kenyans in marathons, as they have won 9 of the last 13 titles. So if the national US tournament does go international, winning the title will become a distinct possibility for Indians from India as well.

Every year the Indian Class X and XII examinations highlight the prodigious RAM (random access memory) that a bewildering number Indian students utilise in order to score impossibly high marks, so memorizing entire dictionaries. So, rattling off the spellings of tongue-twisting words such as ‘pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis’ and ‘honorificabilitudinitatibus’ should be a breeze for them.

It could, in fact, be easier than cracking the IIT-JEE and would carry the added incentive of international fame and prize money in dollars instead of just a postage-stamp sized photograph in a coaching institute’s advertisement of ‘successful candidates’.

Selecting the three children for the national team for a possible first worldwide contest in December 2013 would entail local and national spelling bees in India, resulting in more rewards for children.

The consequent whipping up competitive regional fervour would spell good news for marketers and advertisers too. Differences between American and British dictionaries could be a pitfall for Indian contestants but with the English speaking world evenly divided between the two, organisers will probably accept both variants. Luckily, success has only one spelling.